Jay Inslee

Jay Inslee
23rd Governor of Washington
Incumbent
Assumed office January 16, 2013
Lieutenant	Brad Owen
Preceded by	Christine Gregoire
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 1st district
In office January 3, 1999 – March 20, 2012
Preceded by	Rick White
Succeeded by	Suzan DelBene
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 4th district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Sid Morrison
Succeeded by	Doc Hastings
Member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 14th district
In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Jim Lewis
Succeeded by	Dave Lemmon
Personal details
Born	Jay Robert Inslee (1951-02-09) February 9, 1951 Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party
Alma mater	University of Washington, Seattle Willamette University

Jay Robert Inslee (born February 9, 1951) is the 23rd Governor of Washington, in office since January 16, 2013. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, first from 1993 to 1995 from Washington's 4th Congressional district, in the central part of the state around Yakima, and from 1999 to 2012 from Washington's 1st Congressional district, which included many of Seattle's northern suburbs in King, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties. He announced his candidacy for Governor of Washington on June 27, 2011, and he resigned from Congress on March 20, 2012, in order to focus on his campaign for Governor. He was declared the winner of the gubernatorial election on November 9, 2012. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life, education, and law career

Early portrait of Inslee

Inslee was born in Seattle, the son of Adele A. (née Brown) and Frank E. Inslee. He graduated from Seattle's Ingraham High School, the University of Washington (Bachelor of Arts, Economics), and Willamette University College of Law.

Inslee has attributed his interest in the outdoors to the years his parents spent leading student groups on wilderness conservation trips in cooperation with the NPCA in Mount Rainier in the 1960s and 1970s. He practiced law for ten years in Selah, Washington, a city just north of Yakima.

Washington House of Representatives (1989-1993)

Elections

Inslee ran for the Washington House of Representatives in 1988 after incumbent Republican State Representative Jim Lewis resigned to become political commentator of a Yakima television station. He was inspired to run after the state legislature undermined a school bond that he had worked to pass after years of failure. In the blanket primary, Republican Lynn Carmichael ranked first with 43% and Inslee ranked second with 40%. Republican Glen Blomgren ranked third with 17%. In the general election, Inslee defeated Carmichael 52%-48%. In 1990, Inslee won re-election with 62% of the vote.

Tenure

In the Washington state legislature, Inslee pursued a bill to provide initial funding to build five branch campuses of the Washington State University system. Although the bill failed, Inslee’s tenacity made an impression on House Speaker Joe King, who said, “He’s not afraid to incur the wrath of the speaker or the caucus.” In 1991, Inslee voted for the state energy policy which had the state devise a cost-effective energy strategy, and that state agencies and school districts pursue and maintain energy-efficient operation of their facilities.

Committee assignments

He served on the Higher Education and Housing Committees.

U.S. House of Representatives (1993-1995)

Jay Inslee and his wife Trudi Inslee meet with the Dalai Lama

Elections

1992

In 1992, he ran for and was elected to the United States Congress representing Washington's 4th congressional district in the central-eastern part of the state. His home area of the district, anchored by Yakima, is relatively rural and agriculture-based, while the southeastern part of his district is more focused on research and nuclear waste disposal, anchored by the Tri-Cities, Washington.

1994

He lost his bid for re-election in the Republican Revolution of 1994 in a rematch against his 1992 opponent, Doc Hastings. Inslee attributed his 1994 defeat in large part to his vote for the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.

Tenure

In Congress Inslee passed the Yakima River Enhancement Act, a bill long held up in Congress by brokering a breakthrough with irrigators and wildlife advocates. He also helped to open Japanese markets to American apples, and fund and oversee the nation's biggest nuclear waste site at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, Washington.

Committee assignments

Official 109th Congressional photo

In his first congressional tenure, he was placed on the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture to protect the district's rural areas and the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology to protect the Hanford Reservation.

Inter-congressional years (1995-1999)

Inslee moved to Bainbridge Island, a suburb of Seattle, and briefly resumed the practice of law.

1996 gubernatorial election

Main article: Washington gubernatorial election, 1996

He ran for Governor of Washington in 1996 and lost in the blanket primary. Democratic King County Executive and former State Representative Gary Locke ranked first with 24% of the vote. Democratic Mayor of Seattle Norm Rice ranked second with 18%, but didn't qualify for the general election. Republican State Senator Ellen Craswell ranked third with 15%, and became the Republican candidate to qualify for the general election. Republican State Senator and Senate Majority Leader Dale Foreman ranked fourth with 13%. Inslee ranked fifth with 10%. No other candidate on the ballot received double digits.

Clinton administration

After Inslee's failed 1996 bid for Governor of Washington, President of the United States Bill Clinton appointed him regional director for the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Inslee was once touted as a candidate for United States Secretary of the Interior and for United States Secretary of Energy in the Presidential transition of Barack Obama.

U.S. House of Representatives (1999-2012)

Elections

Inslee as a representative

Inslee ran again for Congress in 1998, this time in the 1st congressional district against two-term incumbent Rick White. His campaign attracted national attention when he became the first Democratic candidate to air television ads attacking his opponent and the Republican congressional leadership for the Lewinsky scandal. Inslee won with 49.8% of the vote to White's 44.1%; his success was aided by the conservative third political party candidacy of Bruce Craswell, husband of 1996 GOP gubernatorial nominee Ellen Craswell.

The 1st was a swing district for most of the 1990s; Inslee's win marked the third time the district had changed hands in four elections. However, the recent Democratic trend in the Seattle area has turned the 1st into a solidly Democratic district. Inslee defeated Washington Senate Minority Leader Dan McDonald in 2000, taking 54.6% of the vote. Inslee defeated former state representative Joe Marine in 2002, taking 55.6% of the vote after the district was made more Democratic in the 2000s round of redistricting.

In July 2003, after Gary Locke announced he would not seek a third term as Washington's governor, Inslee briefly flirted with a gubernatorial bid before deciding to remain in Congress.

Inslee was returned to the United States House of Representatives with over 60% of the vote in the next three elections. During the 2009-10 campaign cycle, Inslee raised $1,140,025. In data compiled for the period 2005 to 2007 and excluding individual contributions of less than $200, 64 percent of Inslee's donations were from outside the state of Washington and 86 percent came from outside his district (compared to 79 percent for the average House member). A total of 43 percent of Inslee's donations came from Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland. The largest interests funding Inslee's campaign were pharmaceutical and health related companies, lawyers and law firms, and high tech companies.

In 2010 he won by a 15-point margin, with 57.67% of the votes cast in his favor. His district went 62% to Barack Obama in 2008, an indication of how strongly the district then leaned Democratic.

Tenure

Though a member of the Bill Clinton New Democrat Coalition, Inslee has accumulated a liberal voting record and expertise on high-tech issues.

Inslee was awarded a "Friend of the National Parks" award by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) in 2001 for his support of legislation protecting the integrity and quality of the National Park System.

Inslee was the first public figure to propose an Apollo-like energy program with an op ed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, on December 19, 2002, and in a series of similar pieces in other publications. Eventually Inslee co-authored Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy, in which he argues that through improved Federal policies the United States can wean itself off of its dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuel, create millions of Green-collar worker jobs, and stop global warming. Along these lines, he has been a prominent supporter of the Apollo Alliance.

Inslee strongly believes the Environmental Protection Agency should remain authorized to regulate green house gas emissions. In a 2011 House hearing, Inslee said Republicans have "an allergy to science and scientists," during a discussion of whether the Regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act should remain in place following a controversial court finding on the issue.

He has been an outspoken critic of the George W. Bush administration's decision to 2003 invasion of Iraq. On July 31, 2007, Inslee introduced legislation that called for an inquiry to determine whether then United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be impeached. Gonzales eventually resigned.

Inslee voted for the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law.

In 2011 Inslee voted in favor of authorizing the use of U.S. armed forces in the 2011 Libyan civil war and voted against limiting the use of funds to support NATO's 2011 military intervention in Libya.

On March 20, 2012, Inslee left Congress to focus on his campaign for Governor of Washington.

Committee assignments

• United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Power

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus
• Congressional Internet Caucus
• House Medicare and Medicaid Fairness Caucus
• House Oceans Caucus
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
• Congressional Arts Caucus

Governor of Washington (2013-present)

2012 gubernatorial election

Main article: Washington gubernatorial election, 2012

On June 27, 2011, Inslee announced his candidacy for Governor of Washington in 2012. His campaign focused on job creation, outlining dozens of proposals to increase job growth in clean energy, the aerospace industry and biotechnology. He also supported a ballot measure that would legalize gay marriage, which passed, and opposed tax increases. He won election by a very slim margin over his Republican opponent, Rob McKenna, with 51% of the vote. While votes were still being counted, McKenna did not immediately concede.

Electoral history

Date	Position	Status	Opponent	Result	Vote share	Opponent vote share
1988	WA Representative			Elected
1990	WA Representative	Incumbent		Re-elected
1992	U.S. Representative	Open seat	Doc Hastings (R)	Elected	51%	49%
1994	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	Doc Hastings (R)	Defeated	47%	53%
1996	WA Governor	Open seat primary	Gary Locke (D), others	Defeated
1998	U.S. Representative	Challenger	Rick White (R)	Elected	50%	44%
2000	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	Dan McDonald (R)	Re-elected	55%	43%
2002	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	Joe Marine (R)	Re-elected	56%	41%
2004	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	Randy Eastwood (R)	Re-elected	62%	36%
2006	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	Larry W. Ishmael (R)	Re-elected	68%	32%
2008	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	Larry W. Ishmael (R)	Re-elected	68%	32%
2010	U.S. Representative	Incumbent	James Watkins (R)	Re-elected	57%	43%
2012	WA Governor	Open seat	Rob McKenna (R)	Elected	51%	49%

Personal life

Inslee and his wife Trudi were high school sweethearts and were married on August 27, 1972. They have three sons, Jack, Connor, and Joe, and live on Bainbridge Island.

Inslee is an avid basketball player and a member of "Hoopaholics", a charity group dedicated to "treatment of old guys addicted to basketball and who can no longer jump" as Inslee has often joked. In October 2009, he played basketball at the White House in a series of games featuring members of Congress on one team and members of the administration, including President Obama, on the other.

Works

• Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendricks, Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy, Island Press (October 1, 2007), ISBN 978-1-59726-175-3

External links

• Representative Jay Inslee official U.S. House site
• Jay Inslee for U.S. Congress official campaign site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Profile at Ballotpedia
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Financial information (federal office) at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance (federal office) at LegiStorm.com
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Voting record at The Washington Post
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Works by or about Jay Inslee in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Collected news and commentary at The Washington Post
• Profile at SourceWatch

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Sid Morrison	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 4th congressional district 1993–1995	Succeeded by Doc Hastings
Preceded by Rick White	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 1st congressional district 1999–2012	Succeeded by Suzan DelBene
Party political offices
Preceded by Christine Gregoire	Democratic nominee for Governor of Washington 2012	Most recent
Preceded by Christine Gregoire	Governor of Washington 2013–present	Succeeded by Incumbent